Each year, thousands of immigrants come to Northwest Florida seeking work, a better way of life, or reunion with loved ones. Catholic Charities welcomes immigrants into our community, providing the guidance and assistance necessary to help them adjust to their new life.
We Can Help You Too!

We help in emergencies with such basic needs as financial, food, prescription, housing and utilities. The staff is acutely aware of services provided within the agency and knowledgeable about other helpful resources.

A prosperity initiative assisting families in creating their own personal plans out of poverty while expanding opportunities, connections and eliminating barriers in the community that make it difficult for families to thrive.

Adoption is a life-giving, loving option for the future of your unborn baby. Coping with an unplanned pregnancy begins with knowing your options and finding support as you work through many important decisions.

Refugee Resettlement Services

“We call upon all people of good will, to welcome the newcomers in their neighborhoods and schools, in their places of work and worship, with heartfelt hospitality, openness, and eagerness both to help and to learn from our brothers and sisters of whatever religion, ethnicity, or background.”—Welcoming the Stranger Among Us: Unity in Diversity, A Statement of the U.S. Catholic Bishops

Refugee Resettlement is a humanitarian effort of the United States government and the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees in collaboration with national, state and local organizations. Catholic Charities of Northwest Florida, Inc. has always been engaged in the humanitarian aid to refugees. In 1972 at the request of the United States Catholic Conference, the agency’s Refugee Resettlement Program was formally established and primarily served refugees fleeing political turmoil in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. By 1995, over 10,000 refugees had received help through Catholic Charities. To date, services have been provided to refugees of many different faiths from more than 35 countries, though the majority of our current clients have been displaced from Bhutan, Burma, Iraq, Somalia, Eritrea, Cuba, DR Congo, Ethiopia and Sudan.

Refugees are individuals who have had to leave their country because of a well-founded fear of persecution. Specifically, they are targeted because of their religious or political beliefs, their social standing or membership in a particular social class. Refugees must flee their countries to escape persecution or death, usually leaving with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They often live in refugee camps for years enduring harsh weather, small rations of food, and little or no health care or education. Refugees arrive in the United States with usually just a small duffle bag of belongings. Within just a few months, however, most refugees are completely self-sufficient. Through their hard work and drive to succeed, studies show that after ten years, refugees are as well off as native-born Americans.

Catholic Charities provides vast resettlement services designed to aide refugees ability to become self-sufficient as soon as possible. Staff members offer employment services and case management services in culturally appropriate languages and customs. We also have an interpreting service available.